Jharkhand political crisis: Fearing poaching bid from BJP, 31 coalition MLAs moved to Raipur - Top updates

Amid the uncertainty over Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s continuance as MLA, the ruling UPA coalition on Tuesday moved its MLAs out of the state, shifting them to a resort in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur. The move is a bid to stave off BJP’s possible poaching attempt amid the ongoing political crisis. 

Here are the top updates on the big story: 

While 31 out of 49 MLAs were flown to Raipur, the remaining 18 including CM Soren, have stayed back in the state where the JMM is a coalition partner with the Congress.

Speaking to reporters as UPA MLAs left for Raipur, Soren said: "No unforeseen incident is going to take place. We are ready for everything, the situation is under our control. I will let you know if I will also go with the MLAs".

The move followed a meeting of UPA MLAs at Soren’s residence which came amid Raj Bhavan’s continued silence over the Electiob Commission’s ruling on the CM’s continuance as MLA. 

Though the EC's decision is not yet made official, there was a buzz that the poll panel is said to have recommended the chief minister's disqualification as an MLA on August 25. The Raj Bhavan did not announce anything on this matter since then.

On August 28, UPA constituents - the JMM, Congress and the RJD - had in a joint statement accused the governor of encouraging political horse-trading by "deliberately delaying" announcing a decision on the CM's membership of the legislature.

Soren's meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP leader Amit Shah in June this year had sparked off speculations that the saffron party was trying to do a maharashtra in Jharkhand. However, both the JMM and BJP later refuted those reports. The Congress had also exuded confidence, saying that the BJP will not find a Maharashtra-like opportunity in Jharkhand, where the JMM-Congress alliance government was “going strong”.

The JMM-Congress combine in Jharkhand had won 25 of the 28 seats in the tribal belt in 2019, while the BJP managed to stake claim to two seats. The JMM has 30, the Congress 16 and the BJP 25 MLAs in Jharkhand’s 81-member legislature.